Sri Lanka Tourism stall was awarded the “Best Decoration Award” at India’s biggest international travel show, OTM- held in Mumbai from 7-9th February and in New Delhi from 13-15 February 2014. Sri Lanka Tourism stall stood elegant at the exhibition, with its décor of water sports, Colombo city, beaches, wild life and festivals of Sri Lanka. Among the crowd of visitors that attracted the stall were the representatives from national tourist organizations, state tour operators, tour & travel agents, and online travel agencies. Countries such as Russia, Malaysia, Switzerland, China, Egypt, Thailand, Maldives, China, Sweden, and Argentina were among the other international participants at the OTM 2014.

For the third consecutive year, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau together with 26 company representatives from the travel and hotel industry in Sri Lanka participated at the OTM Mumbai and New Delhi. Sri Lanka Mission in Mumbai and Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi facilitated the participation of Sri Lanka Tourism at the event.

OTM is considered the largest travel trade show in India, connecting the global travel fraternity for more than two decades. OTM is also the only travel show in India with a balanced mix of travel trade, corporate and general visitors. It is the best platform for marketing to the Indian travel trade, MICE segment and tourists. Every year, OTM draws participants from National Tourist Organizations, State Government Tourism Departments, Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Hotel & Resorts, Airlines, Online Travel Agencies and many other segments of the travel and tourism industry.

More than 1200 exhibitors and 15,000 trade visitors from 70 countries and 30 Indian states gather for OTM ,making it the perfect meeting place for networking, face-to-face interaction, deals of tomorrow and building successful long-term business relationships.

Sri Lanka Tourism, under the guidance of the Minister of Economic Development, Hon.Basil Rajapaksa, successfully launched two mega joint promotional campaigns in India , named as “Get Sri Lankaned” in Bangalore and Mumbai in year 2013 with the aim of increasing the visitors from India. The ‘Get Sri Lankaned’ campaign is scheduled to cross over to the other cities in India namely Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Ahmedabad in the next months of the year 2014.

India is seen as a key potential market for Sri Lanka and currently the top market generating highest number of tourists to the country. Sri Lanka makes an ideal destination for Indian travellers due to factors such as close proximity between the two countries, Sri Lanka’s diverse tourist attractions such as, pristine beaches, Shopping, Adventure, Food, Nature, Casinos, Night Life and many more. Nearly 100 flights(Sri Lankan airlines, Jet airways, Indian airlines) travel between India and Sri Lanka per week. Sri Lankan Airlines operates in eight Indian cities, giving easy connectivity between the two countries.

India is also one of the fastest growing markets of outbound tourists. According to the UNWTO, Indian outbound tourists will rise to 50 million by 2020. SLTPB is expecting to attract 400,000 Indian tourists by the year 2016, thus helping to reach Sri Lanka’s goal of 2.5 million visitors by the year 2016.